MONTREAL – No more monkey business. The Canadian Transportation Agency has granted Air Canada’s request to file for permission to stop carrying non-human primates from Asia and Africa to labs for medical experiments.

At the urging of customers and animal-rights groups like People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), Air Canada asked the CTA in November 2011 for leave to revise its shipping policy.

Air Canada spokesperson Peter Fitzpatrick said by email that the carrier is “very pleased” by the CTA’s decision.

“We will proceed to refile our originally proposed amended tariff with the CTA that will require shippers to sign a declaration that non-human primates are not destined for research or experiments. The tariff will be effective 22nd December 2012. We trust the CTA will expedite this request.”

He added that Air Canada “got about 47,000 letters regarding this issue, the vast, vast majority opposing carrying primates.”

Justin Goodman, a spokesperson for PETA in Washington, D.C., said that many of those letters were routed through his and other activist organizations’ websites.